IRIN-WA Update 224 of Events in West Africa, (Saturday-Monday)
6-8 June 1998

NIGERIA: Abacha reported dead

Nigerian Head of State General Sani Abacha died on Monday
morning after suffering a heart attack, media reports
said quoting an official government statement. According
to Associated Press (AP), close friends of the Abacha
family reported the death. Troops then reportedly sealed
off the presidential residence without explanation,
provoking speculation about his state of health.

In keeping with Muslim practice, a funeral would be
held within 24 hours, the news agency said. Meanwhile,
journalists who had been summoned to the General's
presidential compound in the capital, Abuja, remained
outside waiting for further details, the BBC reported.

Abacha, who was 54, had made few public appearances
since greeting Pope John Paul II in March, the BBC
said. Last week, he also failed to attend a rally held
to welcome him on an official visit to the commercial
capital, Lagos.

Abacha seized power in 1993 after cancelling presidential
elections and then later imprisoning the presumed civilian
winner, Chief Moshood Abiola. Abacha had promised to
hand over to a new civilian government in October.
But in April, he became the sole consensus candidate
of all five registered parties in Nigeria.

GUINEA BISSAU: Fighting in capital continues

Rebel troops attacked army headquarters in Guinea Bissau's
capital, Bissau, early on Sunday morning after President
Joao Bernardo Vieira removed the armed forces chief
of staff, General Ansumane Mane, media reports said.
The trouble broke out after General Humberto Gomes
replaced Mane on Saturday following recent allegations
he was involved in trafficking weapons to separatists
in Senegal's southern province of Casamance.

According to media reports, fighting continued on Monday.
Local residents were quoted by the BBC as saying they
heard gunfire in the Bra area near the city's airport,
as government troops apparently tried to re-capture
two army barracks from the rebels. Residents said the
situation in the city was confused and it was unclear
how many troops were engaged on either side. But troops
loyal to Vieira seemed to control the city centre and
public buildings, AFP reported.

Media reports said fighting had also broken out on Monday
at Mansoa, some 60 km north of Bissau.

Vieira had earlier vowed on national radio that he would
crush the rebellion. Media reports said he also accused
opposition parties of being behind the mutiny and said
its defeat was only a matter of time.

Vieira reportedly cancelled his attendance on Monday
at the OAU summit in the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou,
because of the crisis. At least 40 people, including
some 30 soldiers, and the foreign ministry head of
protocol, Eugenio Spain, have so far been killed in
the fighting, AFP reported.

LIBERIA: Security worries keep Taylor at home

Meanwhile, domestic security concerns also kept Liberia's
President Charles Taylor from attending his first OAU
meeting since coming to power last July, AFP reported
on Saturday. Liberia's foreign minister, Monie Captan,
was quoted by the news agency as confirming earlier
indications that "reasons of security" would
keep the president away, but he did not elaborate.

However, AFP suggested security concerns were linked
to domestic opposition and Taylor's turbulent relationship
with the West African peacekeeping force in Liberia,
ECOMOG.

According to AFP, security problems also prevented Taylor
from attending a meeting with his counterparts from
Sierra Leone and Guinea in the Guinean capital, Conakry,
last week.

SIERRA LEONE: South Africa establishes diplomatic ties

South Africa will establish full diplomatic relations
with Sierra Leone's restored civilian government, a
South African official told IRIN on Friday. According
to the official, South Africa would provide Sierra
Leone with "major aid" as a gesture of its
commitment to democracy in Sierra Leone.

Koroma relative seeks asylum

A relative of the chairman of Sierra Leone's former
ruling Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) has
applied for political asylum in Austria, AFP reported
on Sunday. According to AFP, Lieutenant Colonel Johnny
Paul Koroma's cousin, Kemono Koroma, claimed his life
would be at risk if he returned to Sierra Leone.

The Austrian government had initially turned down the
asylum request, refugee organisations in Vienna reported
on Sunday.

GHANA: Rawlings picks successor

Ghana's head of state, Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings,
declared his support on Saturday for Vice-President
JEA Mills to succeed him when his second and final
term of office ends in the year 2000, Pana reported.
Addressing a rally of the ruling National Democratic
Congress, Rawlings effectively ended speculation his
wife, Nana Konadu, might succeed him. Rawlings urged
party members to support Mills, whom he described as
"intelligent, hard-working and a man of integrity".

Mills, a tax law professor and technocrat, was a surprise
running mate for Rawlings in 1996, Pana reported.

SAO TOME E PRINCIPE: Oil find

A US exploration company said on Sunday that Sao Tome
e Principe had sufficient oil to make it a second Nigeria
or Gabon, AFP reported. However, according to Norreen
Wilson of Environmental Remediation Holding Corporation
(ERHC), the archipelago would still have to wait 18
- 24 months before exploitation of its reserves could
start.

Wilson said a number of European and US oil companies
had already expressed interest in buying oil rights
when they go on sale in the first quarter of 1999.

MALI: Civil disobedience campaign

A coalition of opposition parties in Mali has called
for a nationwide campaign of civili disobedience and
an active boycott of municipal elections scheduled
for 21 June, AFP reported on Monday.

It quoted Coguel Maiga, leader of the Mouvement Patriotique
pour le Renouveau (MPR) as saying opposition leaders
were however still open to talks with the government.
The report did not say when the campaign would begin
or what it would entail.

OAU SUMMIT: Leaders gather for two days of talks

The 34th OAU summit opened in Ouagadougou, capital of
Burkina Faso, on Monday with heads of state confronted
with the death of the Nigerian head of state, General
Abacha and growing tension between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
As 29 of the organisation's 54 heads of state gathered
in the Ouaga 2000 conference centre, diplomats told
IRIN the impact of Abacha's death and its impact on
Nigeria and West Africa were being closely monitored
at the summit

President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso said in his
opening address as the new OAU chairman that Ethiopia
and Eritrea should put dialogue before guns and make
new efforts to resolve their border confrontation peacefully,
news organisations said. When the OAU was founded,
one of its guiding principles was the acceptance of
former colonial borders, even though they often cut
across tribal lands and divided some communities.

Compaore also paid tribute to "our great teacher",
the South African president, Nelson Mandela, attending
his last OAU summit before he retires.

CORRECTION: Report 221

In IRIN report 221 of 3 June on Britain's proposal to
exempt the Sierra Leone from the UN arms embargo, the
final paragraph said: "The move follows accusations
in Britain that the Foreign Office had assented to
covert arms shipments used to help restore Sierra Leone's
former military government." It should have read:
"x x x to help restore Sierra's elected civilian
government."

Abidjan, 8 June, 1998 19:30 gmt

[ends]

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